Seamless stocking and method of making the same



Aug. 23, 1 932. (r-z. KATZENMOIER 1,872,964

SEAMLESS STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Oct. 23, 1930 mm ll llmm,

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Attorneys Patented Aug. 23, 15532 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRY E. KATZENMOYER, 0F ROSEDALE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 FISHER HOSIERY CO. INC., OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA; A CORPORATION PENNSYL- VANIA SEAMLESS STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Application filed October 23, 1930. Serial No. 480,756.

My invention relates to tubular-1y knitted stockings or like articles, and more specifically to a stocking having an improved heel construction, and to the method of making the same.

A main object is to provide a heel pocket of relatively enlarged size adapted to insure a more natural conformation of the foot and leg portions with greater wearing comfort and neater fit over the instep.

Another object is to provide an elastic stretch in the heel pocket to facilitate free introduction of the foot and a smooth close fit when in use.

Another object is to provide for tapered heel extensions into the sole and rear leg portions to increase wear resistance at these points and improve the appearance of the stocking.

Another object is to avoid naturally Weak heel spots by the arrangement andformation of the suture junctions.

lVith these main objects outlined, and with others that will laterthcreinafter appear, my invention comprises the novel stocking heel structure and the method of making the same as will now be fully described in detail in connection with the accompanying drawing, the novel features of which are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

' Referring to the drawing,-

Fig. 1 is a conventional diagrammatic side view of a stocking foot and portion of the leg and indicates a heel pocket embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar showing of a stocking in which the heel pocket embodies a modification of the preferred construction indicated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically the knitting and nonknitting divisional arrangement of the circle of needles of a usual circular knitting machineat various successive steps in the production of a stocking embodying my invention.

It is commonly recognized in the art that the ordinary heel pocket of a tubular stockin formed by a single narrowing and widening operation on'a rear portioivof the circle of needles during reciprocative knitting, produces a heel pocket of less than desired size to angularly project the foot portion relative to the leg so as to conform to the natural bend of the human foot, with the consequence that for a given foot length there is an excess of length over the instep causing unsightly wrinkling when in use.

My improved heel pocket not only overcomes the above recognized defects and produces a stocking of natural foot conformation, but has also other desirable features both of construction and appearance as will be set forth in the following description.

It will be understood that my invention applies alike to full length or half hose, the preferred embodiment of Fig. 1 showing the leg portion 5 broken away above the heel pocket. This leg portion 5 may be produced as heretofore by circular or round and round knitting on a full circle of needles to form a seamless tube, such tubular knitting continuing to the course line aZ;c-d, which in the drawing appears as angular, but the loops of which engage the full circle of needles at the end of the le formation, as is clearly indicated in position 1 of Fig. 3.

In Fig. 1 the line w b-cd appears on one side of the stocking only, but it will be understood to be a tubular fabric flattened on front and rear vertical medial lines, with an identical opposite side, and reference to one side is to be taken as referring to both unless otherwise specified.

At the aforesaid end course ab-cd of 35 the leg portion 5, the heel pocket formation begins by added part circular courses in the rear portion only, produced as usual by reciprocative knitting on part of the circle of needles, designated for convenience as heel needles, while the remaining needles may be designated as instep needles. The usual heel pocket, as well understood, is made on the heel needles by a single narrowing and widening process, with midway diagonal sutures on each side, such pocket as aforesaid being of less than desired size to properly extend the foot at a conforming normal angle. And during such heel forma- 100 tion,

as known, the instep needles with retained loops are shifted out of knitting acside wlth the junctions with the loops of'the end course of the leg portion.

The adjoining section comprises the area within the lines gf--e, 42-72, and hg, with on each side with the first section. O i The third section comprises the area within the lines f--e, representing suture junctions the lines hr-e, e-- i-j, and j-h, with line e-i re resentln suture unctions on each oot portion 7; and line j-i-e-b-are resenting the. first full circular course of t e foot extension.

These several heel pocket sections forming my preferred enlarged heel pocket, may

' be better understood by a description at this point of a means of'knitting the same on a Referring to Fig. 3, position 1 has been referred to as showing the full circle of needles at the end course of loops of the leg portion 5.

. Position 2 indicates the needles as divided preparatory to producing my improved usual knitting machine heel, first section; all the instep needles being temporarily shifted out of knitting action, and also certain of the heel needles, leaving only certain intermediate rear ones which embrace the wale loops on both stocking sides 'between the letters d and a Fig. 1. The loops ofthe temporarily shifted needles are retained thereon for subsequent knitting as heretofore and well understood, and it will be further understood without further statement, that each time needles are temporarily shifted,

they retain their loops. With the needles thus divided, reciprocative knitting on needles d to 0 begins, with single needle additions in successive courses, to widen in well known manner, until all the needles between the letters 0 to b have been restored to knitting action, such singly added needles forming the sutures 0-4). At this point all the heel needles have been restored to knitting action, position 3 indicating the needles at the completion of the first heel section.

Before starting the second heel pocket .the'

same heel needles that were temporarily shifted out of knitting action at the beginning of knittin the first section, are again temporarily s ifted out of action leaving only the needles embracing the Wale loops on both stocking sides betweenthe letters g and and singly'added nee 'the needle division 0 which it will be seen are the same wales between. the letters d and a; position 4, Fig 3 indicating this division, and is identical with position 2. Now b es, until all the needles between the letters f toe have been restored, the second section is formed, the line f-'-e indicating suture junctions with the first section, and the needles between the letters 0 and 6 remaining out of knitting action, the needle division at this point being indicated in osition 5 of Fig. 3.

T e third section is reduced, starting with f position 5 by reciprocative knitting and singly shifting out of knitting action the needles between the-wales e and i, when knitting is suspended with a needle division indicated in position 6; it being noted that I prefer to shift out of action less than the number of needles singly restored in the second section, leaving a greater number of wales between the letter i and 7', than there are between the letters f and g.

The heel pocket is now completed, and at this point I return bodily all the shifted needles completing the full circle as indicated in position 7 and resume circular or round and round knitting to produce the foot portion F and by subsequent usual reci rocative knitting the ordinary or any toe pocliet 8; the

reciprocative knitting latter being seamed in known manner to com plete the stocking. .The line e i represents unction sutures with the first foot course.

My improved heel pocket, made as above set forth, provides a heel' pocket of enlarged size, which angularly proJects the foot portion 7 so as to naturally conform to the bend of the human foot. This enlarged heel pocket adds also to the length of the sole portion of the stocking foot, permitting a minimum of top length in the latter for a given size, and insures an unwrinkling fit at the instep. Furthermore the rear wales extending from ell-0 to z'j, and additional ones from art of f--e to 2' 7' are continuous extensions rom the leg through the heel pocket and into the foot portion giving free elasticity to assume the I proper heel shape. Also it will be seen that the wales between 6 and b extend from suture lines c-b directly into the foot portion, providing elasticity both lengthwise and later ally to permit ready stretching when the foot is inserted and subsequent return to insure a neat fit; the wales being thus free due to the end I) of suture c-b ending in the lines 70-42 at approximately medial points on each side while the point e at the unction of sutures f-e and e-c' is spaced from 6, due to the second and thirdheel sections being formed on less than the full numberof heel needles. And furthermore the sutures c-b and c-i extend diagonally across the wales of the heels, so as to form tapered heel extensions into the leg portion 5 and foot portions 6, increasing the size of the heel and forming slightly tapered heelprojections, which may be used alone as a pointed heel reenforcement, or in con unctlon with a heel reenforcement commonly added during the knitting of the leg portion 5. In the first section, projecting into the rear of the leg, I preferably employ a different thread or yarn matching or harmonizing with the leg thread, such different thread being used through the portion enclosed by lines b-c, cal, dg and g e-b, with a change of thread in the remaining heel portion. The sutures c-b and f-ez' on each side of the stocking form ornamental line's, difiering from the usual suture junctions in that in each one the needles are bodily shifted in one direction as distinguished'from single shift'and single return ordinarily employed. I Such suture V formation, as will be readily understood, produces a closer loop juncture, neater in appearance and of increased strength. And the su ture lines 0-4) and 0-4 form neat marginal edges for the heel pocket.

The particular needle division of Fig. 3 is preferred, but may be modified within the spirit of my invention. And in Fig. 2 I have indicated a somewhat different heel pocket having three sections and in which the section marginal and intermediate suture lines converge at apex points m on each side of the heel pocket, produced in a manner similar to that above described except that all the heel needles are employed in forming sutures M which corresponds to b-c and m--o which corresponds to e-f; suture mp is shown as shorter in the preferred structure.

From the foregoing description it is believed the nature of my improved heel pocket and the method of making the same will be readilv understood, and its essential advantages have been clearly pointed out. And it is to be understood that other modifications than the one disclosed, may be readily developed, all within the spirit of my invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is: v

' 1. A seamless stocking having an enlarged heel pocket formed of angular sections and characterized by having on each side thereof three suture seams. the intermediate one de fining a mid-heel junction of section loops, and the other two defining respectively marginal heel section loop junctions with the leg and foot portions, the inner end of one of said marginal sutures being spaced away for a plurality of wales from the inner ends of the other sutures to provide extensible areas at the inner ends of the heel pocket on each side of the stocking.

2. The method of knitting a. seamless stocking having an enlarged heel pocket, which comprises forming by circular knitting a'tubula-r leg portion extending to the instep and heel, then by reciprocative part- 3 circular gradually widening knitting forming a heel section with marginal leg-connecting sutures extending on each stocking side diagonally across the wales to medial points of the stocking extending diagonally across the wales to form a tapered heel projection into the bottom of said foot portion, and finally knitting and finishing a toe pocket at the end of the tubular foot portion.

3. The method of knitting a seamless stocking having an enlarged heel pocket, which comprises forming by circular knitting atubular leg portion extending to the instep and heel, then by reciprocative part-circular gradually widening knitting forming a heel section with marginal leg-connecting sutures extending on each stocking side diagonally across the wales to media-l points adjacent the instep portion, then by further reciprocative part circular knitting first gradually widening and then. gradually narrowing to form added integral heel sections of less width than the leg-connected section and with marginal suture junction lines with the latter on each side of the stocking, circular knitting to form a tubular foot portion joined to said heel pocket by marginal suture seams on each side of the stocking extending diagonally across the wales to form a tapered heel projection into the bottom of said foot portion, and finally knitting and finishing a toe pocket at the end of the tubularfoot portion.

4. The method of knitting a seamless stocking having an enlarged heel pocket, which comprises forming by and heel, then by reciprocative part-circular gradually widening knitting forming a heel section with marginal leg-connecting sutures extending on each stocking side diagonally across the wales to medial points adjacent the instep portion, then by further reciprocative part circular widening and then gradually narrowing to form added integral heel sections with suture junction lines on each side of the stocking defining marginal junctions with the aforesaid leg-connected section, then resuming full circular knitting to form a tubular foot portion joined to said heel pocket by marginal suture seams on each side of the stocking extending diagonallyacross the wales to form a tapered heel projection into the bottom of said foot portion, and the sutures on each side of the stocking converging to apex points adjacent then resuming full circular knitting a tubular leg portion extending to the instep knitting first gradually the instep, and finally knitting and finishing a toe pocket at the end ofthe tubular foot portion.

5. The method of knitting a heel pocket which comprises bodily throwing all the instep needles and the greater portion of the heel needles out of action and then widening to knit a heel section by reciprocative knitting until all the heel needles have been gradually restored to action, again bodily throwing said greater portion of the heel needles outof action and widening until less than said portion of heel needles have been gradually restored to action, and then narrowing upon said lesser number of heel needles until only a portion of the heel needles remain in action.

6. A seamless stocking having a heel pocket comprising contiguous widened sections with unsutured laterally and longitudinally stretchable wales between the inner ends of said widened sections.

7. A" seamless'stocking having an enlarged heel pocket comprising; a. widened section having marginal suture loop junctions with the leg portion of the stocking; a second widened section contiguous to said first section and having marginal suture loop junctions with portions of said first section; and an adjacent narrowed section having marginal suture loop junctions with the foot portion of-the stocking. said second widened and said narrowed sections being relatively smaller than said first widened section so that their inner ends are spaced away for a plurality of wales from the inner ends of said firstwidened section to provide unsutured, extensible areas at the inner ends of said heel pocket on each side of the stocking.

8. A tubularly knitted stocking having widened and narrowed heel pocket sections with suture apex points on each side of the stocking, and a contiguous widened heel extension into the leg of the stocking formed with leg sutures on each side of the stocking having their inner ends terminating above said apices and providing intermediate unsutured areas which an extensible laterally and longitudinally.

In testimony whereof I aflix'rny signature.

HARRY E. KATZENMOYER. 

